Pasadena: Day 1

[Pastor Gary]

I arrived at LAX Saturday afternoon and was picked up by a co-worker of a classmate, who drove me to the Fuller Guest House in Pasadena. He is originally from India, and his name is Sharad, and he is a Hindu. Add Sharad to your prayer list: he is a wonderfully nice guy, very open to discussions of faith and interested in "the teachings of Jesus," as he stated it. Pray for his Christian work associate, Dustin, also. Dustin has been in ongoing conversations with Sharad about life and faith in Christ.

Pasadena is a nice town, and the Guest House accommodations are a quiet nice home-away-from-home. More of a small apartment than a hotel room! I am about one block of of the Fuller Campus. Having no vehicle, I am walking and exploring a bit. There's a Target store about three blocks away, so I was able to pick up a few essentials. It is pleasant, and clear -- much better than I expected from past experience in the greater L.A. area, but I learned a valuable lesson last night: I have lived in temperate Hawaii so long I forgot about the drastic temperature fluctuations from day to evening. It dropped about 30 degrees during the night and I awoke to a very cold room, and found the heater switch pretty fast. Heat -- what a concept!

I have two papers due today, before classes formally begin in the morning, during which I will present "My Story" in a 9.5 minute video I created last week. I have wireless internet in my studio, and will try to check in from time to time. If I complete my work early enough, I plan to walk/explore some more this afternoon and take pictures.

Have a wonderful service at church today. I will be joining the REUNION webcast to watch my own service long-distance today, and see what Bishop David Browder has to say in his message as he fills in for me.